Thursday, January 15, 2009

i just finished the book of psalms in my personal time of study. 2 psalms that stood out to me were psalm 40 and psalm 116. when i was a new believer, i was a rabid U2 fan. they had a song called 40 that was based on the psalm. it seemed to be the theme song to my life as a teenager. it had a line in it that said, “i will sing a new song.” i didn’t know what it meant at the time, but at the time it was a commitment to rebel against a life apart from God and the hope a new tomorrow. for weeks, i scribbled that line on pages of binder paper and in the dirt wherever i was.

psalm 116 asks “what can I give back to God for the blessings He has poured out on me?” and that seems to be the theme song of my life these days. its strange, but both of those psalms are referenced in this live clip from U2. at the end of the song, bono gives a short homily on the idea of jubilee and God’s heart for the poor.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

i really enjoy the work of dr. seuss.i often use his books as teaching tools in my messages, and jane loves to read his stories as well. lately she has been enjoying the book and cartoon of “how the Grinch stole christmas.” i wanted to learn more about dr. seuss, so i picked up a biography on him called “dr. seuss and mr. Geisel” by Judith and neil morgan- and i learned some fascinating things about his life and work. here are some of those ideas:

:: dr. seuss’ name is not actually dr. seuss. he wasn’t a doctor, and his last name wasn’t seuss. his name was theodor seuss Geisel. he also wrote under the name theo LeSeig; which is Geisel spelled backwards. he was german, so his middle name was actually pronounced “zoice,” not “soose.”

:: when Geisel was a teenager, he was on stage to receive a boy scout honor from teddy Roosevelt. for some reason, Roosevelt didn’t have an award for him and ted was humiliated. he suffered from debilitating stage fright for the rest of his life.

:: seuss grew up in springfield Massachusetts, near a busy street called mulberry street; his first book was called “and to think that i saw it on mulberry street.” he father worked at a zoo; suess later wrote a book called, “if i ran the zoo.” many of his books and characters were inspired by real life situations and people that he experienced.

:: seuss didn’t start writing books right away; he got started making cartoons for magazines and ads. this later evolved into a fairly successful career drawing political cartoons. his cartoons were meant to encourage the US to get into WWII and join the fight against germany and japan.

:: ted later joined the army and worked in the Hollywood division. he created a series of training cartoons about a character named private snafu. he created these with bugs bunny creator, chuck jones. they would later collaborate on the cartoon version of the Grinch.

:: seuss eventually became a very famous children’s writer. at the time, the only things for kids to read was “fun with dick and jane.” dr. seuss was much more fun. his most successful book was “green eggs and ham.” the only book that he worte that did not rhyme was “and to think that i saw it on mulberry street.” after that, they all rhymed.

:: even though seuss wrote for children, he never had any of his own. he actually did not consider himself a children’s writer. he didn’t seem to care much who read his books- he wrote what interested him.

:: one of his early works was adapted into a film called “the 5000 fingers of dr. t.” it was a complete flop; for the rest of his life he had a fear of failure that drove him to perfection.

:: seuss spent that majority of his life in la jolla, ca. he lived in a lookout tower that was converted into a home. his office/ studio was at the very top and it had giant windows that overlooked the beach and ocean. he worked up in his towers until 2am every night. there is now a very cool Geisel library at UC san diego which has a dr. seuss statue out front, and a room that preserves his original drawings.

:: dr. seuss had an interesting writing process. he almost always started with an image and then told a story about it. e would get his characters into situations and then have them find their way out. he never seemed to know how the books would end. it took him weeks to figure out how the Grinch and Horton would end. when seuss wrote “Horton hatches the egg,” he had a picture of a tree and a picture of an elephant on separate pieces of tracing paper. the wind from his window blew the picture of the elephant on top of the picture of the tree and seuss began writing by asking, “how did that elephant get up in that tree? and why is he up there anyhow?”

:: my favorite seuss book, “oh the places you’ll go!” was his last. he seemed to know it was his last, because he put little tributes to his previous work in the drawings. if you look hard enough, you’ll find yertle the turtle and Horton the elephant, as well as some animals originally used in his political cartoons. the book began when ted had a series of unused drawing that he wanted to incorporate into a story. he tacked them to a wall, and the story came to life.

:: i think my favorite story from the book came from his first story, “and to think that i saw it on mulberry street.” Geisel took a big risk in writing a children’s book, and he wasn’t sure if anyone would like it. and unfortunately, no one did. at the time, all children’s books had a moral to them, and this one didn’t. ted Geisel went to twenty seven publishing houses with his book and was rejected by all 27. after the 27th rejection, he headed for home with the intention of burning his book. on his way home, he bumped into an old friend who just happened to be a publisher. his friend said, “what do you have there?” and seuss answered, “a book that no one wwill publish. I’m lugging it home to burn.” his friend loved it, and a career in children’s books was born. he later said, “if i had been walking down the other side of Madison avenue that day, i’d be in the dry cleaner business now.”

the guy was kind of quirky, but what else would you expect? what a great example of someone who uses their creativity and skill to inspire and encourage so many. i’ll close out this post the same way that seuss closed out his writing career, with the final words of “oh the places you’ll go:”

“So...be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Brayor Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,you're off to Great Places!Today is your day!Your mountain is waiting.So...get on your way!”

it was a quiet and meaningful new year’s day for me personally. we drove into modesto and visited with my parents and then went to lunch with my mom (my dad was on call for work).

this is jane reading with my mom:

after that, i dropped Deanna and jane off at her parents’ house and went looking for nostalgia and memories. i discovered google earth recently and have been looking at images on modesto, and on this day i thought i’d go and see them all in person. i didn’t get to every site that i wanted to visit, but i did get to all of my old houses (i lived in 6 different houses in modesto!) and all of my schools(2 elementary, 1 junior high, 1 high school, and 1 junior college). its amazing the way that going to a place can bring up so many feelings and memories.

the first place i went to was vintage fair mall. when i was a kid, i loved the mall. i hung out there with my friends, played videogames in the arcade and even went there by myself a few times when i lived within biking distance. it felt way smaller than it used to. now i live in san jose and regularly shop at oakride and the massive valley fair; vintage fair seemed a bit small. it also looked completely different. only a few stores that i remembered were still there. they completely remodeled the place. so- that was a little disappointing.

the next place that i went was ladd road. we used to live on a farm out there when i was a preteen. the property that i used to live on was locked up tight with big sign that said “NO TRESPASSING.” i’ve learned that farmers have guns and dogs for trespassers and i didn’t want to mess with either. so i went around to del rio, to the area behind my house on ladd road. that’s what i really wanted to see. here are some pictures of where i used to spend a lot of time:

i used to spend hours after school and on the weekends exploring the miles and miles of trails along this river:

it may look like nothing to you, but to me, this was a place filled with hideouts, treehouses, and adventure. i kept thinking to myself how much i wished that my brother was there with me- he was the only one who really ever explored this area with me. we used to have a go-kart and zipped all over these trails.

i didn’t spend as much time as i would have like to out there- again- dogs and guns.

the next place i stopped was my first school in modesto- Stanislaus union. i loved this school, and walking around its campus made me feel like a kid again.

i went to my other elementary school, hart-ransom and felt just the opposite. i went to that school for only a year, and never really felt like i plugged in. i felt like i was always playing catch up, and was always the butt of the joke. i remember showing a picture of it to Deanna on google earth and saying, “doesn’t it look scary?”

i drove past my house on Kiernan, and it had been torn down and replaced by a business. i went to al’s mart- a place where my brother and i used to walk to when we lived over there. when we were kids it was a cool spot that sold candy and soda. now that i’m an adult, i could see that it really was just another gross liquor store.

i stopped at Prescott junior high, but it was locked up tight. it was scary then, and was still scary today.

my last stop was davis high school; it was shut up tight too, but i was able to get out to the track and field. this was my favorite part of my drive down memory lane. i spent countless hours on that track training, racing, and working with my friends on a team. of al the places i stopped, this place made me feel the happiest. it was a place (apart from my home and church) that i felt that it truly belonged.

a trip like this helps you figure yourself out. just being there helped me realize why i make some of the decisions that i do. it helped me to remember why i care about certain things and when i first started doing things that i still do today. if you’ve never done something like this, i’d highly recommend it.